Alkass Digital
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has announced the countdown to the start of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup to be hosted by China, with 500 days remaining until the opening ceremony of the Asian event.
Twelve teams, together with hosts China, have already qualified for the tournament which is to be played from June 16 to July 16, 2023.
Eleven berths remain up for grabs with 24 teams set to jostle for the available places come June this year.
Defending champions Qatar booked their place in the China 2023 Finals following the conclusion of the second round of the AFC Asian Qualifiers in 2022 while China gained automatic qualification by virtue of being the hosts.
Australia, China, Iraq, Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Korea Republic, Lebanon, Oman, Syria, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam have also booked their tickets after qualifying for the final round of the AFC Asian Qualifiers
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the final round of qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup China 2023 will be converted from the conventional home and away format to single round-robin ties to be played in centralized venues.
The 24 teams will be divided into six groups with matches to be played on June 8, 11 and 14.
The six group winners and five best second-placed teams will advance to the China 2023 Finals.
The AFC Asian Cup China 2023 will be played in 10 venues, all of which will be football-specific stadiums, with the exception of the fully renovated Tianjin Binhai Football Stadium. The remaining nine stadiums are being built or rebuilt with the Shanghai Pudong Football Stadium and Chengdu Phoenix Hill Stadium the first two venues to have been officially completed and launched.
The other eight stadiums are the Beijing Workers Stadium, Tianjin Binhai Football Stadium, Chongqing Longxing Football Stadium, Xi'an International Football Center, Dalian Suoyuwan Football Stadium, Qingdao Youth Football Stadium, Xiamen Egret Stadium and Suzhou Kunshan Football Stadium.